[Manardariel]

"Pearly, dahling, pass me a piece of pie, will you?" Pearl leaned over and reached for the plate of cherry pie, grabbed a piece and handed it to her best friend Vivi. They were sitting on the bench in Vivi´s front yard, streching out for the last bit of warm, wonderfull summer-sun.
"So," Vivi said, "you´ll be leving us? So soon.."

" I wish I could stay, but, you know..."

Vivi smiled. "I understand. I wouldn´t miss the chance to organize a party..."

"Vivi! Don´t talk about it! You´re not supposed to know, remember? If Bilbo finds out I told you, I´ll be toast!"

But Vivi´s eyes were looking past her, along the road that let from her house down to the market place. Pearl followed her gaze and recognized the other hobbits she would be travelling with- excluding Crystal, as she noticed with relief. She was still a bit hoarse.

"Hello", she said, smiling at the group. The others all smiled back. Primrose asked her to join them- they were apperently discussioning their journey, as the other woman´s winks told her. Pearl agreed and they walked a few paces, but then she rememberd something.

"What about Crystal?" The others looked puzzeled.

"Why didn´t you know? Crystal Gold will be joining us... shouldn´t we stop by at her place and tell her to come along? I bet she´s positivly bursting with exitement..."

She looked around and saw the others all facing Primrose, who agreed. Pearl wonderd what that was about, but said nothing.

As they walked on, Pearl observed the rest of the company. Primrose was walking up front, clearly taking the lead. Anabell came behind, being her usual (quiet) self. The two older ones were in deep conversation, mostly about food, it seemed.

For a while, she tried to think of the party and some of their preperations... they would need the best cake- Sweetdough at Michel Delving should have that-, other food supplies such as mushrooms (ask Farmer Maggot?), meat (the Hunter´s House in Bywater, perhaps), as for the presents...

Even though these thoughts were pleasant, and contained everything she liked (ale, party etc.), Pearl felt something wiggeling in her insides...
She took a deep breath. One of the things she could not stand was walking in silence. Another one was being with people she didn´t really know anything about. So, she walked up to Primrose.

"Hey", she said, smiling her most friendly smile,

"We haven´t really had a chance to know each other, have we? Well, I´m Pearl and um... you´re Primrose, right?"
She peeped into the women´s face, waiting for a response.

[ January 14, 2003: Message edited by: Manardariel ]